Wednesday Night Dinner

I made this for a friend who came over for dinner. I have been wanting to make some coconut fish curry for a while. I saw this simple recipe on BBC and thought I would give it a shot. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/coconutfishcurry_74888.shtml
While I really wanted to make fish I "chickened" out instead!

My only experience buying fish was with my mother and occasionally my father in a Chinese or Korean store in Queens that had a live fish tank, and you could pick your fish and they would cut it up for you. Even back then, I could not be part of the selecting and and if the packet of fish touched me by any chance I would not be happy! But when the fish was all cooked and ready I would feast on it. What an ingrate I was! Well, I still have to overcome my fear of buying fish and seafood and when I do I will be sure to report back!

I made some basmati rice to go along with the coconut chicken curry which was so fragrant and also a mango cocktail which was quite delicious. The chicken itself came out well seasoned and tender, but the curry could have been a lot better! I was trying to multi-task with making the mango cocktail and rice and forgot to add the tomato paste before the coconut milk! Overall it was OK, but I will be diligently working on improving my coconut curry making skills!

Update: I think I was too hard on myself, I had some rice and curry today and it was delicious! Maybe it just needed to sit there for a bit for all the flavors to meld together.

Coconut Chicken Curry:

I followed the steps in the BBC coconut fish curry recipe above except:

1. I used boneless, skinless chicken cut into bite size chunks which I marinated in salt and freshly crushed pepper for about 30 minutes before cooking.

2. I used coconut milk instead of coconut cream

3. I used 2 tablespoons of tomato paste instead of chopped tomatoes, and added after the coconut milk.

4. I used red chili powder instead of green chillies.

5. I did not grate onions, instead chopped really fine.

6. Used 1 clove of garlice finely chopped and 1 teaspoon of garlic paste as well.

Mango Cocktail:

Ingredients

1/2 ripe mango peeled and chopped

About 200 ml of spiced rum

1 10 oz bottle of maaza mango juice

Seltzer water

Lime for garnishing

Method:

Soak chopped mango in rum for 30 minutes longer if possible. After soaking blend rum and mango (I used am immersion stick blender). Mix rum mixture with maaza and pour into a glass till 3/4 full and top with seltzer and a quick squeeze of lime. Enjoy!